novelraw Chapter 509: Five-Star Warhorses
Chapter 509: Five-Star Warhorses
"Haha! Of course you can, but your uncle here has also been expanding his army recently, so I don't have many on hand. However, since you, Li Wei, asked, how could I mess this up? No matter what, I'll squeeze out a batch for you. How about this: three hundred Bronze Tokens at cost price, one million Standard Gold Coins, how's that?"
"Deal, thank you Uncle Parker!"
Li Wei happily agreed. This price was naturally slightly high. In the underground black market of Weir City, a Bronze Token could be bought for 2,000 gold. This usually required a Three-Star Class-holder to spend about a year grinding for it, or two years if they were unlucky.
Thinking back to how long Li Wei struggled in the Newcomer Mission just to get a few Bronze Tokens?
Of course, in higher-level battles, like the previous siege and defense battle of Kahndorf Fortress, one could obtain dozens of Silver and hundreds of Iron Tokens in a single battle, but costs and losses also had to be considered.
In short, this kind of Clearance Token, which could be synthesized upwards and decomposed downwards, was still in very high demand. A slight premium was acceptable.
As for whether a Son of a Duke like Mountain Eagle Parker, who had lived for five or six hundred years and came from a noble background, had stock on hand, that was beyond what Li Wei could speculate.
Being able to pull up an army of a hundred thousand at any time might be a bit of bragging, but casually pulling up ten or twenty thousand elites was absolutely no problem.
After completing the transaction, Li Wei didn't linger and escorted the Resources back to Liwei Keep with Li Yue and the others. On the way, he once again felt the prying eyes of Rangers from unknown factions, but the other side didn't dare to Act Rashly and quickly disappeared.
However, after returning to Liwei Keep, Li Yue's face suddenly changed drastically."Li Wei, my Warhorse that's upgrading seems to be failing its Upgrade. How could this be?"
"Don't panic, let me see!"
Li Wei was actually quite panicked too. The cost of a Rank Enhancement for a Five-Star Warhorse was extremely high, the conditions were very harsh, and the time required was also lengthy—it took a full half-year to complete.
Over the past half-year, besides the Six-Star Gold Card used initially, Li Yue had fed it various high-quality foods every day and fed it all her share of Magic Secret Potions. She truly put in an immense amount of painstaking effort. For it to actually fail its Upgrade now—no one could tolerate that.
At this time, receiving this Four-Star Pet Card, Li Wei took a quick glance and saw the relevant enhancement information.
[Time remaining for Rank Enhancement: 3 days. Success Rate of enhancement: 86%]
[Current Warhorse status: Insufficient energy, malnutrition]
Fuck, this is quite troublesome.
The reason Li Wei's Five-Star Warhorse was able to enhance successfully back then was because it was always left in the Mage Tower, personally cared for by Second Aunt, and fed various Magic Secret Potions as if they cost nothing.
Even so, the final Success Rate for the Rank Enhancement was only 97%. Fortunately, it still succeeded in the end.
It seemed they could only use an Ultimate Move. Five-Star Warhorses truly could exert a massive tactical advantage on the battlefield, especially for someone who had already crafted a Knight Card.
After struggling for a moment, Li Wei didn't use that Enhancement Scroll, which could directly increase the Success Rate by 20%. Instead, he directly took out the flask of 5-Star Fine Wine that he was reluctant to drink himself and, through the Pet Card, poured in one-tenth of it.
The effect was immediate; the Success Rate soared by 6%, becoming 92%.
So he painfully poured in another one-tenth, and the Success Rate had already become 98%.
"Alright, that's enough, Li Wei, this is enough. Look, the Warhorse's condition is improving now. The Success Rate will continue to increase over the next three days, and it's possible it will reach 99% in the end."
"But I still want to discuss something with you. Can you leave your Five-Star Warhorse behind? I plan to give it to Jocelyn to use. The role a Five-Star Warhorse plays in battle is simply too great."
"If Jocelyn can have such a Five-Star Warhorse, he would basically be competent as a Chiliarch. Speaking of which, do you remember that Barbarian Centurion Cao Nima we met in the Blazing Territory back then?"
"I remember, but he was a Dawn Knight."
"Yes, but his Warhorse was only a Four-Star Warhorse. He truly had the potential to become a Chiliarch. Now, if Jocelyn can have a Five-Star Warhorse, he should be able to tie with Cao Nima back then. So, in the future, I plan to have him command those five hundred Five-Star Cavalry opposite us."
"Understood, that works."
Li Wei didn't tangle over it. Five-Star Warhorses were of course good, but they also needed to be in the hands of suitable talents to exert their power.
And Jocelyn, this guy, had indeed made great progress over the past half-year.
Of course, Javier, Seth, and the others weren't bad either; it could only be said that they all had to be cultivated slowly. Foundation and opportunities couldn't be gathered in a single day.
"Wait, Li Wei, I have another small request."
Li Yue spoke again, causing Li Wei to cast a strange look at her. Today, she seemed somewhat ambitious.
"I can't help it. Don't look at me so strangely. My identity at this moment is the Commander of the Blazing Legion, not your mistress, so I have to fight for enough benefits for my legion. Well, let's put it this way: I think you going to help defend Siyuan Keep next is a tough job. We have to prepare for the worst. After all, now that we have joined the Faction, it means we have to obey the rules. We can't be too willful; we can't just retreat whenever we encounter a tough enemy."
"So, can you give me all the stock you prepared for upgrading the Royal Guards? What I mean is, didn't we get three hundred 3-Star Warhorses this time? So we can entirely play a big one; we can scrape together six hundred cavalry. Once the enemy gathers a grand army at Siyuan Keep, then we'll deal them a ruthless blow, directly detouring behind them for a surprise attack, crippling them until they suffer Crippling Paralysis!"
Li Yue's idea was too bold; even Li Wei was startled hearing it. "Big sis, the so-called six hundred cavalry of your Blazing Legion haven't even had a single proper training session. How dare you play so big?"
"War is the best training! Besides, these aren't recruits. Our cavalry here won't have any problems with coordination, and the cavalry over there are all Five-Star Cavalry too. Even though they are all in the state of bad old men right now, aren't I coming to you to beg for alms? I know your Royal Guards are your biological sons, but the Blazing Legion can be your biological sons too. How about it?"
"I still feel it's too exaggerated!" Li Wei still hesitated.
"Exaggerated? That's because you are just a Scout who only knows how to sneak around and drill into ravines and old forests. Don't use your professional instincts to consider the overall battlefield strategy. I am the cavalry commander, and I believe cavalry should be fought this way. Don't always think about casualties, losses, and how precious they are. If precious cavalry aren't used on the blade's edge, if they can't go in with a White Blade and come out Red at the most critical moment against the enemy, are you keeping them to breed?! Li Wei, don't force me to throw a tantrum at you!"
Li Yue made even herself laugh as she spoke. But as the Commander of the Blazing Legion, and as currently the only presentable general on Li Wei's side, she couldn't rely on Li Wei for everything. Even if he were made of iron, how many nails could he strike?
For a very long time in the past, Li Wei had been the backbone of the territory, the reassuring pill. But that was when there were few people and the situation wasn't so complex.
What about now? They joined a Faction, got a territory, but still had to involuntarily act as vanguards for others. Was being a vanguard that easy?
The future situation would change constantly, and all matters would have to be carried by you, Li Wei. Can you carry it?
So she had to let the Blazing Legion To Develop in the shortest time, becoming an invincible sharp blade in Li Wei's hands.
Seeing that Li Wei was still pondering, Li Yue could only advise again, "Listen to my advice. Siyuan Keep is a tough bone. Don't think about piecemeal reinforcement tactics, don't think about arduous, bitter battles, and definitely don't think that you can hold on just by relying on the terrain. With one bad operation, Li Wei, Siyuan Keep will become a hard knife continuously bleeding you."
"So we must settle this once and for all. Before the enemy, and before our allies, can react, severely slaughter them once. Otherwise, Li Wei, you also know what kind of goods you are in the Faction: you are a vanguard. Will an easy-to-fight battle fall to you? For hard-to-fight battles, is there enough profit to let you have sustainable development? We have to create our own opportunities."
This time, these few sentences finally convinced Li Wei. Yes!
Easy-to-fight battles wouldn't fall to him.
So he absolutely had to take advantage of the time when both the enemy and allies were arranging their troops and formations to Catching Unawares and To Develop a wave, even if he fell into a lengthy, staunch defense afterward.
Moreover, he had to admit, perhaps Li Yue wasn't good at large-scale strategic tactics or arranging troops and formations either, but she undoubtedly truly understood how to fight cavalry wars.
"Alright! I'll give you all the stock, all the Gear will be prioritized for you, and Tucker, this Rank 3 Battlemage, will also be given to you guys. Let's do it this way."
Of course, he still felt he had a way to cover for Li Yue. Those five hundred—oh, now it was five hundred and thirty Tier 3 Gargoyles used for defense would be equally outstanding.
"Deal, give it all to me! Also, you have to second Xuanxuan to me. For the next few days, she must act as the Blacksmith for our Blazing Legion. And your little lover Hathaway must also fully cooperate with me. In this battle, the Blazing Legion must show the skill of using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken."
Li Yue took Li Wei's stock over here and hurried off.
Subsequently, all relevant personnel and departments in the entire territory, as long as they involved the Blazing Legion, were prioritized and transferred over to prepare for the Blazing Legion.
And those three hundred 3-Star Warhorses used up all the upgrade magic potions concocted by Second Aunt in one breath, upgrading to four stars.
Then, led by Zhao Xuanxuan, hundreds of Blacksmiths hammered day and night without stopping. Massive amounts of Mana were fused into the steel, forging pieces of Enchanted Equipment and Enchanted Weapons.
Even Hathaway couldn't manage to build the Mage Tower and was pulled over to be a conscripted laborer.
But the results were also excellent.
In just two days, the original three hundred cavalry of the Blazing Legion, plus the three hundred Five-Star Cavalry from A Qing's side, basically looked brand new, brimming with energy and spirit. Even if they hadn't had a single training session, this was the advantage of Veterans. As long as their attributes were upgraded a bit and their Lifespans extended by a few years, the combat power they could unleash would make even young lads yield in admiration.
Even Li Wei at this time had to admire Li Yue's idea. Because those three hundred seemingly aged Five-Star Cavalry, in a certain sense, were even more outstanding than the Flame Cavalry here.
It was estimated that only those forty-two Dark Moon Knights could suppress them.
Just like that, early on the morning of the third day, as Li Wei was preparing to lead his troops out towards Siyuan Keep, a series of Realm-Wide Announcements swept across everyone's eyes like blood-red rainbows.
This was the first wave of Realm-Wide Announcements since this Orson Empire reconstruction mission began half a year ago.